Delhi recorded its lowest yearly average levels of PM2.5 and PM10 in 2025, barring the Covid year of 2020, according to the economic survey of 2025-26 tabled in the Delhi Assembly by chief minister Rekha Gupta on Monday.
The report cites data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS). It shows the yearly average of PM10 in 2025 at 209 micrograms per cubic metre, while PM2.5 stood at 100.
The 2025 figures are the lowest since 2015, the earliest year for which data is available. In 2020, PM10 had dropped to 187 during the Covid-19 pandemic, but PM2.5 remained at 101, one unit higher than the 2025 figure.
Year-wise data in the report shows PM10 and PM2.5 averages at 225 and 110 in 2024, 219 and 106 in 2023, 223 and 103 in 2022, and 221 and 113 in 2021.
The report states that the annual mean ambient air quality levels for 2025 are based on data available till December 9, 2025.
"The average concentration was 100 µg/m³ and 209 µg/m³ respectively for PM2.5 and PM10. The peak of PM10 was recorded on May 15, 2025, when the concentration of PM10 reached up to 1154 µg/m³ due to heavy dust storm.
However, PM2.5 reached up to 451 µg/m³ on the October 21, 2025, after Deepawali day," the report said.
The survey also shows a rise in the number of cleaner air days. The count of ‘good air days’, including good, satisfactory and moderate categories, has gone up from 159 in 2018 to 200 in 2025.
As per standards, the yearly average should be around 60 µg/m³ for PM10 and 40 µg/m³ for PM2.5, still far below the current levels recorded in the city.